Tissue Microarray and Imaging Core

The following image shows expression of the proliferation marker Ki67 (red) in breast carcinoma cells stained for cytokeratin (green)

The Tissue Microarray and Imaging (TMI) Core is dedicated to the construction and evaluation of high-quality tissue microarrays and imaging techniques for cancer research. Core services include construction of standard and custom tissue microarrays, preparation of array slides, immunofluorescent staining, image acquisition and analysis by AQUA, high-throughput isolation of DNA and RNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue cores, as well as consultative services.

The TMI Core is also utilizing a new simple arrayer that permits the construction of small 60-core test tissue arrays very rapidly. Recently, the Core acquired an Aperio Imaging Workstation and will be offering services using this equipment in the next few months. AQUA and Aperio will allow the core to quantify biomarkers detected with fluorescent and immunohistochemical stains, respectively.

In 2008, the TMI Core completed 73 requests for 28 investigators (96% of which were DF/HCC members). A total of 32 custom arrays were constructed totaling almost 11,000 cores punched, more than 2,200 nucleic acid isolations from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue cores were done, and 77 slides were scanned and scored using AQUA analysis.